June 27, 2007

June 27, 2007

Californ-I-A

The first night back on the road was hot. Accustomed to the air-conditioned bedrooms of the guest house, we all had a little trouble getting to sleep in the extreme heat. The heat woke most of us up around 8:00am when it was already climbing to 100+ degrees outside. A good hour or two was spent inside a nearby, air-conditioned, gas station. We fueled up and started towards the border. We were only twenty miles away from the border when we parked last night.

Nearing the border, we unpacked the cameras and got ready for the big moment. Phone calls were made, and pictures were taken the second we passed the “Welcome to California” sign. It got pretty loud in the cabin, as we approached the border inspection stop. We parked a little ways down the road and walked the footbridge over the Colorado River to the sign. We snapped a few pics before deciding we needed to get out of the heat. Michigan weather is sounding better and better all the time. Closer to the city limits we found a McDonalds and used the gift card that Scott gave us (thanks Scott) to buy some milk shakes.

We were in no hurry to leave the cool, air-conditioned cafeteria of McDonalds. More phone calls were made, including one from my sister Julie, to figure out the plan for the next few days. Ryan and Julie are giving us a place to stay for a while, and the inside scoop of LA. We’re looking forward to actually making it their place, but right now we are facing a small delay.

Helen is overheating again, right before we enter about 80miles of desert. We decided to pull over at the last gas station before the desert, to cool down and wait. When the sun goes down, the temperature will drop and we can keep chugging down I-10 towards LA. For now, we’re writing, watching videos of the trip thus far, copying pictures to the computers, and playing poker. The truck stop restaurant we are in is near empty; I’m sure we were more than half of their customers all day.

We waited until about 11:00pm before we took off through the desert. It was a long stay at the truck stop and we were ready get out of there. Because of our long delay, we wouldn’t be making it to Ryan and Julie’s until about 3:00am, so we decided we would park somewhere nearby and meet up in the morning.

On the highway, Helen gave us a big scare. The transmission wasn’t shifting into third gear, causing us to stay at a 35mph top speed. As we limped down the highway, hazard lights flashing, we talked about possible solutions. There was serious talk about scrapping the whole thing and buying bus tickets back. We thought for sure that Helen had given up. But then, a second wind, Helen was shifting again! Not asking any questions as to why it worked again, we proceeded to find a Wal-Mart just a few minutes from Ryan and Julie. It was 3:00am.

Once at Wal-Mart, we all went inside and cleaned up. It was walking back to the Bago that we discovered we had parked right next to a “No overnight RV parking” sign. Not really wanting to be towed, this close to our destination, we moved into the next empty lot. A half hour after we parked there, a security vehicle came by and made us move again. Desperately searching for a place to stay we cruised on down the road. A block away there was an abandoned gas station with its windows boarded up. It didn’t look very inviting but it worked. We slept good, knowing we had made it.

Winnebago Guys, from the desk of Aaron Tubergen

Rancho Cucamonga, California